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ARTIST: India.Arie
TITLE: Testimony, Vol. 1: Life & Relationship
LABEL: Motown
GENRE: R&B
BITRATE: 182kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 59min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-06-27
RIP DATE: 2006-06-09
Track List
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01. Intro: Loving 1:30
02. These Eyes 4:31
03. The Heart Of The Matter 5:15
04. Good Morning 5:27
05. Private Party 3:52
06. There's Hope 3:56
07. Interlude: Living 1:23
08. India'Song 5:26
09. Wings Of Forgiveness 4:59
10. Summer (Feat. Rascal Flatts & 3:14
Victor Wooten)
11. I Am Not My Hair (Feat. Akon) 3:49
12. Interlude: Great Grandmother 0:34
13. Better People 3:43
14. Outro: Learning 1:32
15. I Choose 4:45
16. This Too Shall Pass 5:54
Release Notes:
Theres nothing like taking on the big issues, and thats exactly what India.Arie
does on her powerful third album Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship. The
title alone is an unmistakable signal that in the more than three years since
her last Grammy winning album, Voyage to India appeared, India has grown even
more ambitious. That should hardly be a surprise. After all, her 2001 debut
album, Acoustic Soul, which earned her seven Grammy nominations and sold more
than two million copies, announced that an artist who is unafraid to speak her
mind had entered the music scene.
India continues to make good on that promise. Testimony explores relationships
with the honesty, depth and vulnerability that she has made her hallmark.
Floating on hypnotic rhythms and delicate melodies, the album travels a journey
from heartbreak to acceptance to transcendence, and communicates all the
personal wisdom gathered along the way. The title of the albums centerpiece sums
it up: This is IndiaSong, the latest chapter of what she intends to be her
great, big body of work.
I couldnt help but write about all the lessons I was learning about what
relationships are, India says about the albums genesis. She had come through a
painful breakup and realized that survival was merely the first step on her path
of independence. I wanted to make sure that I was telling my truth, that I could
stand behind it, she continues. I saw Free from 106 and Park, and I told her
about the album when I was almost done with it. She said, People dont need you
to say something thats happy. They look at you and say, Whats India going to
tell us next about where shes at? That was soothing.
These songs, then, are smoky, soulful bulletins from the front, new sources of
inspiration for Indias millions of fans. The first half of Testimony finds India
mapping an internal landscape of loss. Its crazy how much I miss/A simple good
morning kiss, she sings quietly on Good Mourning, and the unaffected directness
of that lyric eloquently conveys the hurt in her heart. A bold, beautiful cover
of Don Henleys The Heart of the Matter establishes what might ultimately be
Testimonys most profound theme: forgiveness. If you keep carrying that
anger/Itll eat you up inside, she sings. Its a gripping performance, and she
means it. Thats exactly how I felt, India says of her vocal on the song. Your
voice is wherever you are, and the voice you hear on that track is telling a
story along with the lyrics. I was right there.
On the lovely Wings of Forgiveness, India defines that essential theme in her
own generous terms: Youre only human/Lets break free of this gravity of
judgment/And fly high on the wings of forgiveness. Akon joins India on I Am Not
My Hair, a song that returns her to the issue that first brought her national
attention with the hit Video: those women should not be defined by their looks.
As a Black American woman, a lot of your integrity is dictated by how you wear
your hair, she explains. The concept for the song was sparked when I decided to
cut my locks, and all the different attitudes people had about it. This is my
hair and its my life. Ill choose how I express myself.
That desire to live free of expectations also sits at the heart of I Choose, a
song whose buoyant funk gets lifted by Bonnie Raitts guest turn on guitar. When
I see women like her, Im inspired, because I see that you can be strong and
feminine, India says of Raitt. That song is saying, I choose what kind of woman
I want to be, and shes one of those women who chooses for herself. In an even
more striking collaboration, Gary Lenox of Rascal Flatts harmonizes with India
on the wistful Summer. I love country music, she says. If someone else were to
sing some of my songs, they would be country songs, with their story lines and
clever wordplay. Plus, I just love great singers, and Gary is a great singer.
Asked what she would like listeners to take away from Testimony: Vol. 1, Life &
Relationship (she is already gathering songs for Vol. 2), India sighs, thinks
for a moment, and then says, I always pray that God will allow my music to
touch whoever it's for in the way that they need. I always pray for that.
But, on my own human level, she continues, when I was growing up, I remember
very few songs that talked about what relationships were really like. So, for
people who are still growing and learning, I hope this album will be a window
into what it really means to love somebody - the triumph and the pain, and how
it all comes together. And for people who have had their hearts broken, I hope
these songs will speak to them with the laser-point accuracy that is comforting
about music, whenever you find it.
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